In the five years since Vladimir Putin ordered Russian hackers to break into Democratic National Committee email systems and conduct a widespread social media campaign to boost Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, the idea that the Russian dictator was an ally of the Republican Party gained widespread traction among Democrats.
Such a notion is a 180-degree reversal from the Russia-averse stance held by the GOP under previous presidents, with many Republicans citing Ronald Reagan’s role in bringing down what he called the USSR’s “Evil Empire” as an achievement on par with Abraham Lincoln’s effort to win the US civil war in the 1800s.
